Policeman badly hurt in theft probe

A police officer is fighting for his life in hospital after being injured in a confrontation with burglary suspects.

Moments after the constable sustained "life-threatening" head injuries in Dagenham, east London, onlookers saw him lying in convulsions after another officer pulled a gun on the suspected getaway car.

Eyewitnesses' reports suggest that the critically injured officer may have been struck by a car after leaving his own vehicle following the police pursuit.

Events unfolded after officers were called in the early hours of Saturday to reports of an aggravated burglary, Scotland Yard said.

The victim of the reported burglary, to which police were alerted shortly after 6am, said the suspects were armed.

They escaped the scene in a silver Chrysler, which failed to stop for officers in an armed response vehicle in Stratford town centre.

Police followed the vehicle in the direction of Leytonstone High Road and a male suspect made off on foot when it stopped briefly. Residents heard sirens wailing down Ashlin Road, Newham, as the Chrysler sped along the street with a police car in hot pursuit.

The suspected burglars reached a dead end.

It was then that an officer in his thirties, a member of the Met Police's CO19 firearms unit, left the armed response vehicle and sustained serious head injuries. Police are investigating exactly how he suffered his injuries.

The three people in the Chrysler were arrested and taken to east London police stations where they remain in custody. The trio - a 26-year-old man, 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman - were all unhurt.